Items Tagged with 'Massachusetts real estate'

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The founder and president of a defunct Massachusetts mortgage company will spend nearly three years in prison after admitting to defrauding Ginnie Mae out of approximately $2.5 million. Court documents show that starting in 2011, Mortgage Security founder Robert Pena began diverting money borrowers sent to MSI into private bank accounts, which he then used to pay for personal and business expenses.

Caliber Home Loans will pay a $2 million fine and hand out an unknown number of mortgage modifications to borrowers in the state of Massachusetts to settle allegations that the company steered struggling homeowners into risky mortgage modifications.

Ocwen will provide $2 million in restitution to mortgage borrowers in the state of Massachusetts as part of settlement with the state over alleged "widespread" mortgage servicing problems. The settlement brings an end to a lawsuit filed by the state against the nonbank back in May 2017, which accused Ocwen of charging homeowners for "unnecessary and expensive force-placed insurance policies," imposing "excessive fees on delinquent borrowers," and failing to "properly process escrow and insurance payments."

New Fed Mortgage, a growing mortgage lender based in Massachusetts, is set to expand its business even more through the acquisition of Commonwealth Mortgage, a direct-to-consumer lender that is also based in Massachusetts.

A few months after initially approving new laws that regulate and tax short-term rentals in the state of Massachusetts, the state’s governor signed the laws into effect late last week. The laws take aim at the rise of Airbnb and similar short-term rental platforms in the state.

The city of Boston has new rules surrounding short-term rentals that are set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2019. According to Airbnb, Boston’s short-term rental rules violate the Constitution, multiple federal laws, and Massachusetts state law. Airbnb also claims the city's rules threaten short-term rental sites with “draconian” punishments should they violate the city’s rules.

A Massachusetts man admitted in court last week that he took part in a nearly decade-long multifamily mortgage fraud conspiracy that defrauded financial institutions of millions of dollars. Court documents showed that Joseph Bates and other conspirators took part in a mortgage fraud scheme that stretched from 2006 through 2015, involved at least two dozen fraudulent loan transactions, and caused $4.3 million in losses to lenders.

Ocwen Financial’s troubles with state regulators are nearly over, for now, at least. The nonbank disclosed Fridaythat it reached a settlement with the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs & Business Regulation’s Division of Banks, which took regulatory action against the company last year along with more than 30 other states over alleged escrow and other mortgage servicing issues.

The battle between Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney just hit a whole other level. Warren, the architect of the CFPB, accused Mulvaney of ignoring or providing “evasive, misleading, or incomplete answers” to more than 100 questions asked of him by Democrats about the CFPB's activities. But Warren’s letter isn’t just tough talk. As the kids say, she’s got receipts.

Nationstar Mortgage, the nonbank now known as Mr. Cooper, allegedly put hundreds of borrowers in Massachusetts at a heightened risk of foreclosure by offering them “unfair and deceptive” mortgage modifications, the state’s attorney general said Tuesday. “Nationstar failed to stop foreclosures and this settlement gives homeowners in the hardest hit areas in Massachusetts a chance to stay in their homes,” Massachusetts AG Maura Healey said.

This month inHousingWire magazine

President Donald Trump appointed Calabria to take the helm of the FHFA on December 12, 2018. The Senate then officially confirmed Calabria in April by a vote of 52 to 44 as head of the agency. Since then, Calabria has not been silent on his plan to reform the FHFA and the entities it oversees – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.